Monthly Archives: March 2015

There are 2 weeks left to apply for the KALW Audio Academy. Application guidelines here and below.

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Enrollment now open for the KALWAudioAcademy

KALW is calling for applicants for our9-month radio journalism training programbased at KALWpublic radio, an NPR and BBC affiliate station in San Francisco. This program is designed to give you a professional audio production education, tuition-free.

We’re looking for creative thinkers who are great writers and storytellers with a passion for covering diverse communities and some knowledge of the Bay Area.

AudioAcademy participants will be trained to produce feature reports for KALW’s award-winning daily news program Crosscurrents. Your voice and your work will be broadcast on KALW during your time in the AudioAcademy.

Training will include:

Working closely with reporters on developing stories, producing original feature stories for broadcast, interviewing potential guests/sources, researching topics, fact-checking, script writing, recording sound for pieces in the field, and learning story structure, voicing, digital production, engineering, and sound design. You will be responsible for minor administrative and production duties. You will also pitch and produce an entire Crosscurrents show. The training will take place inside the collaborative and supportive community of the KALW newsroom. Our editors and engineers, along with other public media producers, will lead workshops on every aspect of production specifically for the AudioAcademy. Previous featured speakers have been: Al Letson, Roman Mars, Hansi Lo Wang, Daniel Alarcón, Marianne McCune, and Jason DeRose (to name a few).

Selected participants will make a 9-month commitment (September 2015 to June 2016): minimum 20 hours per week (one eight-hour shift at our studios and another 12 hours working in the field). TheAcademy includes a two-week break in late December and two flexible vacation weeks. Enrollment in a college or university is not necessary to participate.

To apply please put together a cover letter, CV, any audio/writing samples, and (if you can) a short, original audio work that you craft as part of your application. Send it all to:

BackStory is now accepting pitches for the following shows (dates in parentheses are dates by which all tape would be due):

Tools of the Trade (4/24): This is probably the most design-heavy episode we’ve ever done. We’re looking at the changing nature of work in American history, through the objects and technologies that shaped those changes (the office chair, the typewriter, the cubicle, etc. etc.). Got a “tool of the trade” (or a set of tools, technological systems, etc.) you think would fit this show? Be sure to tell us not only the history of the technology, but what it meant and how it changed the way Americans worked.

Speed! (5/08): How fast — and slow — has life moved in America? What big shifts in velocity did people witness in the 18th and 19th centuries? How did the new pace at which people and ideas move change the course of history? How have we measured speed, scientifically and culturally? We’re open to stories that look at the pace of life, the concept of speed and all of its cultural reference points (drugs, the Roadrunner, Speedos…?).

Infrastructure (5/22): On this show, we’ll explore how the physical foundations of life in America went from being highly visible to nearly invisible. Think burying power lines, air traffic control, alligators in sewers, tunnels, Internet cables, and more. We want your stories of building America from the ground up … only to put it ‘underground’ again.

BackStory is especially interested in freelance pieces that get out of the studio — that is, site-specific and sound-rich stories from around the country. Include what, if any, sources you would use in your story and how you would produce them. Give us an idea about what you imagine your piece would sound like (field tape, scoring, effects, readings, etc.). We’re open to non-narrated features, written essays, and reported pieces. Three to 10 minutes in length is ideal.

Email Associate Producer Kelly Jones at <khjones at virginia dot edu>, with “PITCH:” in your subject line. We’ll do our best to be in touch with you within a week of receiving your pitch. Thanks!

I'm working with a radio show and podcast called Modern Notion (an offshoot of the website of the same name) that's launching April 6. Modern Notion is all kinds of stories for the ultra-curious.

We want any interesting story from history and stories about emerging technology and its impact, and we have a few theme ideas below my signature (but feel free to submit a story even if it doesn't fall into any category).

It's a daily, hourlong show out of WCGO in Chicago, but we're looking for stories of national interest. Many of the segments from the radio show will also be podcasted in smaller, themed podcasts from Modern Notion.

Our fee structure is as follows:

Commentary/essay – $125

2-3 minute audio postcard – $125-$150

2-5 minute story with at least 1 interview – $150-$250

5-8 minute feature – $250-$800+ depending on length and complexity

Most stories will be in that 2-5 minute range.

We're launching in less than two weeks, so send your ideas soon to pitches@modernnotion.com. Include 1-2 paragraphs about your story, approximate length, which category/ies the story would fall into, and a link to your previous work.

What If – a story revolving around a hypothetical question that's popped into our heads, and sure, it's totally crazy, but what if… Think about people in history who have asked a what if question, or ask one yourself and bring in experts to answer it, or what if history had gone differently. Or for futurists: What happens when you can download your brain to your computer? What happens when we find definitive proof of parallel universes? What happens when we make contact with aliens?

Thank God for Science – Stories and topics focused around the intersection of science and religion and the not-so-clear boundary that exists between the two

Builders – Stories from people who’ve built things with their hands or minds they never imagined they could

Lost – About all the things and non-things we've lost: languages, ideas, documents, people, information, etc.

Hey folks. Updated info on the Western Regional SPJ Conference HERE and below.

Join a dynamic group of media professionals gathering in San Francisco April 17-18 for the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2015 Region 11 Conference.

Forward-thinking media entrepreneurs and investigative reporters will lead intensive workshops at the Impact Hub on April 17 and an array of multi-track programming at the Hotel Whitcomb on April 18.

Come to the 2015 Western Regional Conference to gain key insights on today’s ever-evolving media landscape. Hear how newsrooms are supplementing reporting with data visualization, podcasts and online video. Learn from freelancers who are dominating lucrative niches. Pick up tips on email encryption from savvy journalists who take on powerful interests — and know how to protect their sources.

In addition to skill-building workshops and engaging expert discussions, conference goers will enjoy several social and networking events and SPJ’s Mark of Excellence ceremony.

Durham’s favorite summer audio festival is launching its second season and to kick it off we’re looking for stories ranging from 2-15 minutes that (more or less) fit these themes:

Homecoming/Stories of Leaving and Return: submission deadline 4/19

At some point, we all leave home. Or do we? And who does the journey change–the ones who leave or the ones who stay behind? Tell us about your prodigal sons and why you can't go home again. Or about a really cheesy dress you bought for that high school dance.

Haunted: submission deadline 5/12

What is it you can’t let go? Who- or what- won’t let go of you? If you’ve got stories of obsessions, fixations, otherworldly encounters, or unwholesome interests, open your closet of skeletons and let us have a peek.

Dog Days of Summer: submission deadline 6/10

It’s not all lazy days and picnics. The Dog Days were once considered an evil time when “wine grew sour and dogs turned mad.” Send us the good and the bad: summer flings and overheated outbursts; stories of indolence and frenzy. Plus, dogs. We like dogs.

Alternative Love Stories: submission deadline 7/14/15

What if the person, place or thing that sets your heart strings strumming also sets you apart in some way? What if your Happily Ever After wasn’t? We want to hear about unorthodox cravings, unexpected endings, and love stories of all stripes.

Bad Advice & Second Chances: submission deadline 8/11/15

Some of us have actually paid cash money for a 1974 Dodge Dart. Tell us your stories about when you listened to your Uncle Leo rather than your common sense, or any other time you told that small voice in your head to shut up and sit down. Also, tell us about the aftermath and how you've lived to tell the tale.

We love sound-rich stories that make us think, make us laugh, and take us to places near and far. We especially love pieces based in Durham, in North Carolina, or made by local radio producers, but we're open to any great idea. Share your work or work you find compelling made by someone else. We want to hear it all, even if it's not a perfect fit for the theme.

We need your help to find the best of the best. Use this form to submit a story for consideration— submit as many stories as you'd like!

Audio Under the Stars is a summer audio festival in Durham, North Carolina. Each month from May through September we curate a playlist of the most compelling and fun audio and play it back in the cozy backyard of the Duke Center for Documentary Studies.

Hey all. I posted this awhile back and the position is available again. Definitely a good opportunity for the right person! (Full or part time). Details below. -Mia

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Wanted: New York Audio Broadcast Journalist for 100s of Media Outlets

*Flexible hours, home-based office, well-paid*

Report on Critical Issues in Long Island and New York: Reaching over 33 million people per week through 1,000s of other media outlets, the Public News Service has work for an experienced news producer/reporter who knows New York and Long Island, as well as the important issues of the day.

Currently, we need applicants with extensive and broad news writing experience, on-air reporting and skilled digital sound editing. Our successful producers have a minimum of five years of broadcast news writing/voicing/digital recording & editing experience. Please save yourself from the application process if you do not have excellent digital sound editing skills. Special focus on public interest issues; competitive pay and benefits; some night & weekend work may be required; preference given to reporters who already have a home recording studio.

Candidates Need:

— 3-5 years of experience working in a fast-paced news environment (commercial media and wire service work preferred)

— Did we say….Ability to record high quality phone audio and voice wrap from a home studio!

Before you apply please visit our website for examples of our online content: http://www.publicnewsservice.org. If interested send a cover letter and resume to jobs@publicnewsservice.org – with “New York Producer (your last name)” in the subject line. We can offer both part-time or full-time work, please indicate which would be of interest to you in your cover letter.

KALW is calling for applicants for our9-month radio journalism training programbased at KALW public radio, an NPR and BBC affiliate station in San Francisco. This program is designed to give you a professional audio production education, tuition-free.

We’re looking for creative thinkers who are great writers and storytellers with a passion for covering diverse communities and some knowledge of the Bay Area.

Audio Academy participants will be trained to produce feature reports for KALW’s award-winning daily news program Crosscurrents. Your voice and your work will be broadcast on KALW during your time in the Audio Academy.

Training will include:

Working closely with reporters on developing stories, producing original feature stories for broadcast, interviewing potential guests/sources, researching topics, fact-checking, script writing, recording sound for pieces in the field, and learning story structure, voicing, digital production, engineering, and sound design. You will be responsible for minor administrative and production duties. You will also pitch and produce an entire Crosscurrents show. The training will take place inside the collaborative and supportive community of the KALW newsroom. Our editors and engineers, along with other public media producers, will lead workshops on every aspect of production specifically for the Audio Academy. Previous featured speakers have been: Al Letson, Roman Mars, Hansi Lo Wang, Daniel Alarcón, Marianne McCune, and Jason DeRose (to name a few).

Selected participants will make a 9-month commitment (September 2015 to June 2016): minimum 20 hours per week (one eight-hour shift at our studios and another 12 hours working in the field). The Academy includes a two-week break in late December and two flexible vacation weeks. Enrollment in a college or university is not necessary to participate.

To apply please put together a cover letter, CV, any audio/writing samples, and (if you can) a short, original audio work that you craft as part of your application. Send it all to:

The March 28 panel on funding international reporting sponsored by the DC Science Writers Association starts at 2:15pm (not 2:30pm). My apologies for the error. The panel is one of many scheduled for a day-long event. To register: http://www.dcswa.org/

It's summer camp for audio nerds – one for newbies, one for more experienced producers, and one week-long retreat for anyone who needs it. Details below! (Including info on a stipend for AIR members. If you're not a member already, here's another good reason to join up.)

Alert: Glynn Washington! Deb George! Or should it be #GlynnWashington, #DebGeorge?

Spring’s almost here and it’s time for the annual invitation to “summer radio camp for grownups,” our weeklong intensives here in Durham, NC. We’re again offering our pair of venerable bootcamp-style courses:

Hearing is Believing, July 12-18, for beginners (really: NO experience required) or those relatively new to the craft and wanting a solid grounding in the fundamentals—recording, shaping and scripting, mixing on Hindenburg. You make a piece during the week with a partner.

Making It Sing, August 3-8, for more experienced producers with a challenging project to bring and workshop with lots of individual and small-group attention.

Between those two on the calendar, our friends at Big Shed are again offering Digging In: An Artist’s Retreat, July 26-31, which brings together documentary makers and storytellers of all stripes (and all mediums) for a productive and rejuvenating week of digging deep and making meaningful progress on individual projects.

AIR is offering members a $100 travel stipend to attend our advanced course, Making it Sing. Five stipends are available. To apply for the AIR stipend go here: https://airmedia.wufoo.com/forms/q7x1k3/.

We have a brilliant roster of guest instructors, all AIRsters. Glynn Washington, the creator, host, and executive producer of Snap Judgment, will be our guest teacher/presenter for Hearing is Believing (the intro-ish course). For Making it Sing, Deb George returns. The veteran editor and producer with NPR, Radio Diaries and now Reveal: there’s no better set of ears in the business. And as always the inimitable Shea Shackelford of Big Shed will be here along with me for both Hearing is Believing and Making It Sing — and of course for Digging In.

To register or to read more about all these courses, and a few others offered by CDS in video, photo, and writing, go here:

Promoting the work and advancing the role of women in the news media across the globe is critical to transparency and the diversity of voices. The Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, the first ever funding initiative of its kind, enables the IWMF to dramatically expand its support of women journalists. Established with a $4 million gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Fund will support projects including educational opportunities, investigative reporting and media development initiatives.

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) launched the fund to support the ambitious ideas of women journalists seeking substantive backing for projects and opportunities related to the news media, including educational opportunities, investigative reporting and media development initiatives.

The IWMF will make an annual total of US$230,000 worth of grants. Grant sizes will depend on the projects or opportunities in question, and the inclusion of a detailed budget. Special consideration will be given to freelancers, who operate without backing from media outlets.